KINGS ROYAL XXXII RECAP

HEAR YE, HEAR YE! SHANE STEWART CROWNED 32ND KING AT ELDORA; WINS $50,000 Standing Room Only Crowd Waits Out Long Rain Delay to See Wild and Exciting 32nd Kings Royal ROSSBURG, Ohio (July 19, 2015) – Shane Stewart won the biggest race of his career, Donny Schatz dominated but ran out of fuel after leading […]

Standing Room Only Crowd Waits Out Long Rain Delay to See Wild and Exciting 32nd Kings Royal

ROSSBURG, Ohio (July 19, 2015) – Shane Stewart won the biggest race of his career, Donny Schatz dominated but ran out of fuel after leading 30 laps, Rico Abreu finished third, Tim Shaffer, while leading, blew an engine, Paige Polyak became just the second woman to make the Kings Royal starting field and two massive rain storms delayed the start of Heat Races until 1:30 a.m. (EDT).

Other than that, the 32nd edition of the Kings Royal at Eldora Speedway was fairly normal.

It was a night that would make the late Earl Baltes, founder of Eldora Speedway, happy as the fans stuck around until the wee hours to see Stewart be crowned king and collect $50,000.

And fittingly it was Susie Barga, Baltes’ sister, who crowned the Stewart. Perhaps the fans thought that if Barga, at age 87, could stay up until 4:30 a.m., they all could.

What a night at the historic half-mile and it’s a race that will be talked about for years to come. And for Stewart, it was the biggest win of his career and his first win the Kings Royal.

“I don’t know what to say,” said Stewart, who also won Friday night’s “Knight Before the Kings Royal.” “They gave me a great car all weekend long.”

Tim Shaffer started on the pole and led the first five laps, but blew an engine with Schatz right behind him. Schatz managed to avoid his slowing car, pass him and take the lead.

Christopher Bell was chasing Schatz in the middle part of the race, but jumped the cushion in turn one, hit the outside retaining wall and flipped in between turns one and two. He was uninjured and is scheduled to compete in the 1-800-Car-Cash Mud Summer Classic NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race on July 22 at Eldora.

It appeared Schatz was on his way to victory, but on the second-to-last restart with four laps to go, Stewart began to close on him and they battled side by side.

They crossed paths with Stewart going high and Schatz going low and then suddenly Schatz’s car slowed.

His car had run out of fuel and Stewart moved past him to take the lead.

Schatz began falling back and then made contact with Brent Marks on the mainstretch, which put Marks out of the race and brought out the red flag and allowed everyone to refuel their cars.

On the final restart Stewart pulled away for victory, while Jason Johnson, Abreu, Sammy Swindell and Daryn Pittman rounded out the top-five. Stewart started 14th and charged to first, while Abreu came from 10th and Swindell started 16th.

“I thought I had a shot at Donny,” Stewart said. “I knew everyone would be close on fuel. I just don’t know what to say. It’s my biggest win ever. I thought that this weekend my best chance at getting a big win. I just can’t thank (car owners) Kyle (Larson) and Justin (Marks) enough. I’ve got to thank all these awesome fans for sticking around tonight.”

Polyak finished an impressive 11th and was the second woman to start the Kings Royal. Erin Crocker finished 20th in 2004.

The event was red flagged on the original start of the A-Main after Jojo Helberg spun wildly into the Turn 1 retaining fence. He was not injured.

Qualifying got in on time and they started the first heat race for the Kings Royal, but on the first lap, Steve Kinser got in an accident on the backstretch and flipped several times. He was out of the race and went to the hospital during the rain delay. He is cleared to drive.

The heavy rains came shortly after Kinser’s accident and the racing was delayed until 1:30 a.m. EDT. But the fans stayed and experienced one of the great nights in Eldora history.

In the NRA Sprint Invaders 20-lap A-Feature, Randy Hannagan started fourth, but took the lead early and held off Ryan Ruhl.

The next event at Eldora is the 1-800-Car-Cash Mud Summer Classic NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event on Wednesday July 22. There is a Sunoco American Late Model Series event on Tuesday night.

Tickets can be purchased at www.eldoraspeedway.com or by phone at (937) 338-3815.